212 



Report of the Horticulturist of the 



trees which are subject to the attacks of this disease. It has 

 already been said that the injury from the leaf spot was especially 

 severe on the Italian Prune, sometimes called Fellenberg, a va- 

 riety which usually begins to ripen here the first week of Sep- 

 tember. Of the trees of Italian Prune which were under experi- 

 ment in 189G (see page 2.10), 48 were sprayed and 24 were left 

 unsprayed. As early as August 12 the ground under many of the 

 unsprayed trees was thickly strewn with fallen leaves, and con- 

 sequently the fruit was ripening and dropping prematurely, while 

 under the sprayed trees very little fallen leaves or fruit was to be 

 seen. The amount of fallen fruit and leaves was so much greater 

 under the unsprayed trees that by looking at the ground one could 

 easily tell which trees had not been sprayed. 



Because the treated trees held their foliage much better, their 

 fruit ripened later and on the whole averaged larger than the fruit 

 on the unsprayed trees. Remembering that the later fruit, as a 

 rule, brings better prices, it is at once apparent that the increased 

 yield in this case does not fully represent the increase in receipts 

 from sprayed as compared with unsprayed trees. The following 

 is a statement of the picked fruit, drops and waste from these 

 trees and the date of picking. The yield is measured both by 

 nine-pound baskets and by pounds, except for the waste: 



Yield of Plums from Sprayed and Unsprayed Trees. 



August 25 



September 12. 



24 Unsprayed Trees. 



Picked 



Picked 



Drops 



Waste 



104 

 36 

 12 



897 



427 



84 



290 



8.63 

 11.86 

 7.00 



The amount and character of the average yield per tree is as 

 follows: , 



